


As Chaos Demands

by Leonawriter



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gender or Sex Swap, Genderfluid Character, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-11-08
Packaged: 2017-12-26 16:25:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/968087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Creating and holding the 'Rainbow Bridge - Bifrost' took almost all of their power.  Just enough to keep them from being able to use any and all abilities, and strip away certain masks.  Not that Brave would appear to mind beyond the immediate embarrassment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The gods were summoned, and the three of them were doing their utmost best to keep the Bifrost strong, despite the toll it was taking.  But it was only a matter of time - they didn't have the power to keep it up much longer, and Dragan could tell that if his D-Wheel was nearing its limit, then the others must be also.

Even so that didn't stop the shock when first one, then another and then finally, the last exploded in their faces, smoke coming from the overworked electrics.

They stayed there for a few moments more, in the hope that what little was left could somehow help, but in the end the gods too were vanishing, having done all that they could to keep the bridge from breaking before Team 5Ds reached the end.

A fall from that height surely couldn't be survived easily, even with powers such as theirs.  And even survived, they would be unable to get back up, and fight Z-One.

Eventually though, he noticed Brave slump over whatever wasn't dangerous to lean on of his D-Wheel with a groan, and Dragan gave a sigh. 

That was all they could do, then.

He felt spent as well, in ways that he wasn't sure he'd felt in years, since the rune eye had first activated for him. There wouldn't be any more thunder for him, not for several days at least.  He had a feeling that Thor wouldn't seem quite as lifelike on the field as normal, either - he'd be there, but without the power to truly manifest...

Well.  If Yuusei and the others didn't stop the Arc Cradle from falling, then that would be the _least_ of his worries.

He dismounted to disconnect the cables from his bike, Harald doing likewise - they'd need to move, soon.  If anything, at the very least they might be able to see from a distance whether it had worked.

He didn't notice at first, looking away and at his bike, the way that his third teammate was moving - an oddness about it, even.

"All we can do now is wait, and believe in Team 5Ds and their bonds," Harald said.

Dragan nodded.

"I'm sure that they're strong enough to do what they set out to."

"If they weren't, they wouldn't have beaten us, right?"  That was Brave.  Apart from the odd timbre of his voice - although for the moment Dragan put that down to the stress of the moment.  "Raaaaaaaugh, that was a tough one!  Anyone else feeling out of breath?"

And, finally, he and Harald turned to look.

"Nothing out of the ordinary for something like that, no, why-  _Brave, what the-?!"_

No wonder Brave was feeling out of breath.  Their suits had been designed to be form-fitting, for maximum performance at speed.  None had all _that_ much give, or else they'd be loose, which would rather defeat the point.

The flat-chested riding suit Brave was wearing was now holding in what _looked_ like, well.  It certainly showed off his- ah... or should he say, _her_ figure?

"What?  What're you looking at?"

Brave looked between them, then down at his- herself? - and then with widened and shocked eyes let out a scream of surprise and what _sounded_ like dismay.  Then, began to swear like he'd only heard... _him_... swear only a very rare few times before.

Harald was the only one who kept his head, narrowing his eyes at the revelation and then getting back to work pulling the last cable out safely and beginning to lead his D-Wheel toward the door.

"We can deal with this later," he said, turning back just for a moment.  "But for now, we need to be moving.  Brave - perhaps it would help if you loosened your suit.  It seems to be constricting your breathing."

Dragan couldn't help but smile at the look on Brave's face as their leader said that, even if he did hide it so that the face reddened from anger and embarrassment both wasn't turned on _him_ next.

"He only said _loosen_ , not take it off entirely..."

He went over, Brave crossing his- her - arms as he did so, turning away from him to do just that as he got to work clearing the rest of the cables from his teammate's bike.

"There.  You can still push, right?"

" _I grew a pair, I didn't suddenly get weak, you-_ "

"I meant because of what you were saying earlier about your _breathing_."

There was a short, awkward silence during which all that could be heard was the sound of the bikes as they started pushing them outside.

"Oh.  Right.  Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine..."

"Sure?"

"Get out."

Dragan laughed, but it trailed off when he wondered what this might mean.

"You're going to be able to get back to normal, right?"

A moment's pause as though Brave had given him a shrug from behind, and then a barely audible sigh.

"Ehh... should go back to normal in a few days, sure...  Damn well hope so.  Otherwise I'm screwed.  Passport says I'm a _guy_ , not a _girl_."

A few days.  Assuming they got out of this alive, that surely couldn't be too bad.  Just a few days being the wrong gende-

Wait.

Surely, it couldn't be, right...?

But his _thunder_ was gone.  There was no lightning dancing at his fingertips despite the electricity that had sparked off earlier.  The air didn't still or fizz with static like he was used to it having done ever since he could remember.

It was there, he knew, but just out of reach. 

He almost looked back, but caught himself in time.

...

Team 5Ds had won - or rather, Yuusei had, but it was all the same, really.  They watched, Brave still getting used to her figure and the discomfort of wearing the suit made for a man's body shape, and the others still getting used to the idea of her being a girl at all.

The sight of the Crimson Dragon carrying Team 5Ds back down to safety and that of the Arc Cradle that had been so close to destroying the city was distracting enough for them to forget for now, though - and Yuusei not arriving with the rest, giving them the fright of _what if he didn't make it_ \- was far more important.

Then they saw the winged form of his D-Wheel soaring lower, angling in towards where the others had been placed by their Dragon.  He was fine, and they let out a sigh of relief.

"We should get back," he suggested.  "If it's all over, then..."

"Good point!  We left all our stuff back there - and we're going to need to get the bikes fixed!  Oi, Harald, you got a phone on you?"

The Team's founder nodded.  "I'll call Sebastian and tell him to expect us back."

Dragan looked over at the bikes, and sighed.  Brave couldn't say she didn't get it, either - they'd be pushing them all the way back to the city, Momentum or no Momentum.

"Perhaps we should get you something better suited to wear while we wait for them to be fixed, Brave."

"You want to see me in a skirt, that it?" Harald stared at them and sighed as though he were babysitting a couple of kids, which really wasn't fair - it wasn't her fault she found Dragan's reactions so damn funny! "Dragan wants to see me in a skirt~"

"Th- that's not what I-!"

"If you wanted you could've asked for that any time, you know~"

_"B-Brave!"_

"Brave, Dragan..."

"Harald, he's- she's-"

Brave snickered, unable to help from laughing. 

"Just kidding, just kidding!  Sheesh~!"

They continued to push the bikes back down the road they'd already been going up, Harald looking back to find the chaos having abated... somewhat.

"...you're bad enough as a guy, but I never thought you'd be even worse as a girl," she just about heard Dragan say, which only made her laugh.

"Get used to it, haha!  Though _I_ haven't changed.  Are you sure _you_ haven't?  Got a little crush~?"

She saw him stop to catch his breath as he choked on thin air, which only made her laugh harder.  If she were honest, though, Dragan having a crush on her like this would just be plain _awkward_ \- she didn't feel like that for him, and she'd be going back to normal soon anyway.  He was just fun to tease.

" _Brave!_   No.  No, I do _not_ have a crush on you!"

He was blushing, though, she could tell _that_ just by the red of his face as she came up side by side with him.

"When we get back," he said just loudly enough for her to hear as she passed, "I'm going to _hit_ you for that."

"What, you'd hit a girl?"

"Don't play innocent.  I'll say it again.  I'm going to _hit_ you for that."

"O-oi!  Oi, Harald, Dragan's being mean!"

Harald didn't even look back as he kept pushing. 

"Perhaps if you stopped taunting him, he wouldn't feel the need to.  And maybe you both should put more energy into pushing than teasing one another."

Duly chastised, they both put more effort into it, only trading glances now and then - she would smirk or smile, and he would glare back at her, but at least she noticed the blush going down.

...

AN: Okaaay.  So, thing is, I have a _lot_ of backstory ideas for this.  Or at least some very important ones that didn't get a chance to be aired properly in this chapter.

But here's the things I feel the need to point out: One, Brave was _born female_.  That's what Dragan was realising at the end of his section.  Two, it's an AU where each of them have powers relating to something that their god has dominion over.  We've already seen mention of Dragan's ability with storms and electricity.  Brave's, as you can possibly tell, has something to do with shapeshifting (no, it isn't just about gender/sex).  Harald will likely be mentioned in the next chapter.

Another thing is that I'm considering giving the Signers more 'permanent' abilities that are related to what their powers as Signers are, but are at the same time more capable of being used in everyday situations rather than just in duels.  Aki, for instance, would stay the same, as she has her Psychic duelling ability.  The others are subject to the whims of my imagination, but are most likely going to be minor things rather than something that would have changed the plot in major ways.

The title refers to the Trope of 'New Powers As The Plot Demands', but here it's more akin to as _chaos_ demands...


	2. Chapter 2

The first time he'd ever seen Brave, he didn't know it yet.

He'd fallen asleep some time ago and at first he hadn't realised that he wasn't simply dreaming.  This had happened before, though, so he wasn't too confused or scared, simply curious and wary.

He couldn't always control what he saw, after all.  Especially when he wasn't awake.

But this time he'd found himself in someone's room.  It was night, the lights were off apart from the lamp on the owner's bedside table, and the bed was occupied by a child - he could call them that, they didn't look very old, and he was sixteen, nearly an adult.  The covers were pulled right up over their face, so that all he could see was a shock of shoulder-length red hair, and they were small enough and young enough that he couldn't even tell whether they were male, or female.

They weren't asleep, though.  These were usually memories he found himself in, either from past or present, and you couldn't have a memory of a time when you were asleep.

Pretending to be, then.  Which made sense, what with the shouts Harald could clearly hear that were coming from downstairs.  His eyes widened at the names the two, the parents of the child he was watching, he had to assume, were calling each other, the things that they were accusing each other of.  The child themself didn't react at all until they both flinched, the one under the covers drawing them up around them even further at what sounded like one hitting the other.

This... this wasn't how a family was meant to be, he knew that much.  But when he turned back to the redheaded child in the bed, tried to get a closer look at their face, a hand rested on his shoulder, stopping him and making his heart race - no one was supposed to see him in these visions of his.  He wasn't even _there_ , so who-

He turned, and looked up.

The man was tall.  Taller than Harald, and taller than his father.  Like the child in the bed, he had red hair, but the man's was wild, sticking out at every angle like his head was on fire.  He felt of the chill of cold winter nights but also of warming up in front of the fire, safe and warm.  There was a laughter in his eyes, green eyes unlike any he'd ever seen, and the man had lifted his other hand with one finger raised up to his scarred lips-

" _Shh..."_

The hand was taken away, and revealed that the man - _Loki_ , said all of the old stories that his mother had told him. _Loke,_ said all the tales in tattered books.   _Loptr_ , said the old kennings on the ruins they'd taken the class to on one field trip - was smiling, a smirk that was full of laughter for a joke not yet explained.

And then, he'd woken up.

...

What with the danger they'd been in, the exodus from Neo Domino had been city-wide and fast-moving.  Now that the threat was gone however, while some were making their ways back home as fast as they could, others simply collapsed from relief right where they stood after celebrating Z-One's defeat and the disappearance of the descending Arc Cradle.

The end result was that the place looked like some kind of bomb had gone off even so, making it seem more reminiscent of Satellite in old times rather than the bustling city that it usually was.

Crow didn't like it.  He knew it'd get better, and it'd all been for the best in the short term, just _in case_ they didn't make it, but still... it'd been easier to _deal_ with before.

Now, it was just freaky.

Their first port of call was Security HQ, mainly so that they could pick up whatever they'd left behind, and catch up with Jaeger.  It so happened that Aki's parents were already there, having gone to the last place they were sure that their daughter had been, making for a tearfully relieved reunion.

When they left, they went their separate ways, promising to meet back tomorrow - they'd celebrate then.  For now, all of them were tired, some in need of medical attention, and a good night's rest would do all of them a world of good.

When he woke up the next morning from unsettling dreams, Crow found that the sunrise over Neo Domino was far more impressive than ever before.  Maybe because just not even a whole day ago, he'd thought yesterday's would be their last.

They left their D-Wheels in the garage.  Most of them had something or other wrong, but it could wait until later, and they could walk the short distance from Poppo Time to the cafe they'd decided to meet at the previous night.

"Ah-"

"Mn?  What is it, Yuusei?"

"It seems someone came before us," Yuusei explained with a smile, and when they looked, he was proven right.

There, sitting at the outside tables provided, were Team Ragnarok.  Shrugging - and not seeing the harm in talking to the ones who'd helped them so much - Crow kept following behind Yuusei as he lead them towards the other team.

"Hn, oi, oi... doesn't there seem something off about Brave...?"

"I don't know what you mean," Jack said, uncaring.  And then looked again, eyes narrowing slightly in confusion.  "Hn.  Now you mention it..."

Dragan was waving them over, Harald drinking coffee - could even be the same brand as what Jack usually blew all their budget on, but for _today_ \- and today _only_ \- he'd let him.  Brave himself was crossing his arms, and... wearing what looked like the same as what he'd changed into by the time they'd finished dueling Aporia, but like he'd said to the others, something felt off.

Maybe it was about the way the guy was sitting.  Then again, leaned back like that...

Crow blinked.  He couldn't be seeing what he thought he was seeing.  His eyes had to be playing tricks on him.

"Ah, you guys!  We didn't know you'd still be around," Yuusei said while Crow laughed it off, still finding his eyes darting back every so often.

"Hmm, well." Harald was the one answering, cup raised almost to his lips.  "A last minute matter is causing us some delay."

"You're kidding."  He snagged the last chair at their table, and the others dragged the rest over for themselves.  "Sucks.  Anything we can help with?"

Brave sighed dramatically, drawing Crow's attention back to him yet again.

"Not really," he said, spreading his hands in a sort of shrug and giving them full view of his... chest.  "Ah, it'll be all sorted this time next week, anyway, so no worries~"

Or at least, Crow'd _thought_ Brave was a 'he' until they'd done that and- boobs.  Brave had _boobs_.  Why the hell-

He felt his eyes popping.  Accidentally started to choke, and Jack walloped him one - although who knew if it was to help with the choking or to stop him from making a fool of himself, because apart from shocking him even more, he didn't think it actually worked.

"Y- you- you, uh- _girl?"_

And then Rua started to point and shout at the now very _unimpressed_ Brave, only stopped from alerting the entire neighborhood by Jack - this time putting a hand firmly over the boy's mouth, leading to a series of 'mff!  Mm-mm mmf mff!' noises coming from behind his hand.

"It seems," Harald said calmly in the face of the chaos, "that there has been a breakdown in communication of sorts, and a distinct lack of honesty between us."

"You wouldn't be wrong," Dragan said with a snort.

"Ah... when you say that, do you mean that it's not just..." Yuusei trailed off, unsure where to lead the conversation and quite what they'd walked in on.

"The whole 'girl thing', you mean?  Nah.  I mean, I _could_ just say I was cursed, or I'm just that special, but that'd be lying, _wouldn't_ it?"

She - undoubtedly, definitely a she now that he looked, not that Crow _was_ looking, but even so - looked between her two teammates.  Aki coughed akwardly.

"We... aren't interrupting anything, are we?"

"Not really," Dragan said dryly.  "So long as Brave can get over herself."

"Over my- Dragan, I _told_ you.  If I'm going to be stuck like this for as long as you've lost your- your-"

"Lightning."

"Then I'm going shopping. This," she said, gesturing at herself (she really shouldn't do that she was drawing attention to all kinds of things damn it), "is all well and good, but until I get my normal body back, it doesn't _fit right_."

" _Normal?_   Normal might be right, but that's just how we're _used_ to seeing you.  But this..."

"Is nothing.  Got it?"

"Ah..." Crow sighed, scratching at his head and trying to kill his red face.  "Ahaha... could someone explain what's going on?"

While the rest of his own team nodded along with him, Brave and Dragan glared at each other.

_And where the hell did that come from?  They were getting on fine yesterday..._

It was Harald who spoke up, in the end.

"It turns out that our Rune Eyes were not the only things inherited from the Aesir," he explained.  "Brave, I am sure, is the most obvious example."  He was almost interrupted by Brave huffing and rolling her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest again.  "Although Dragan and I are not excluded from this.  Odin, Thor and Loki... in short, pass some of their essence down along with these eyes, a fact which seems to create certain... abilities."

Crow glanced sidelong at the other Signers - Jack, Rua, Yuusei... but apart from Jack's huff and Yuusei's slight narrowing of the eyes as he nodded, none of them were really surprised, even taking in Rua's wide eyes, mouth still sealed, if loosely now, by Jack's hand.  He supposed he wasn't all that much either.  They'd had enough time to get used to the idea that people chosen by 'gods' and 'dragons' alike weren't exactly, hah, _normal_.

"We had a talk last night," Dragan said after wetting his throat, "after Brave made it clear that none of us were the only ones affected."

"You make it sound like I had a choice- ah, ah, not that I'm blaming _you_ ~!" The last was said in their direction, with a hand waving off any potential complaints - something that only made Crow blink in confusion.

"Eh?  Why'd we think that?"

"It happened when you couldn't keep the Bifrost up any longer, right?"

"Correct, Yuusei."  Harald must have seen something in Yuusei's eyes, because then- "As Brave aptly said, we do not hold it against you.  If anything, it is better that it is out in the open, rather than hidden as it was."

"So..." he started.  "Lemme get this straight.  Something like that made Brave turn into a girl and the rest of you..."

"For one thing, she didn't _turn into_ a girl," Dragan said, eyeing his teammate, who was rolling her eyes.  " _Someone_ just didn't _tell_ us everything.  Apparently," he continued, turning back to the others, "she's always been like this.  Inherited - Harald's word for it - _shapeshifting_."

"Just as you inherited Thor's gift of the storm, Dragan.  I would hardly hold keeping such a thing against her."

"Hn!  So what happened when we were dueling was _your_ fault, then?"

"I wouldn't accept all the responsibility for that one, Jack.  It was a clash between those chosen by the gods and those chosen by the Crimson Dragon - something extraordinary would have happened no matter whether we had certain abilities or not."

There was a short pause, during which Rua broke free with a pout.

"Aa."

"Y- _Yuusei_ , you-!"

"Remember when we had our own duel during the Fortune Cup?  Things went strangely then, and that was just within the team, so to speak."

"Ah, that's right," Aki gasped.  "I remember that!"

Yuusei nodded, Jack huffing just as the waitress came out to take their orders.  Once she was gone again - and wasn't she the same one who was there in the WRGP sometimes? - things started to settle down somewhat.

"Hahhh..." Brave stretched with a sigh.  "Save the world, and it's life as normal the next day, eh?  I bet in a few years they won't even remember all this.  Just that you guys won the WRGP!"

"Heh."  Yuusei shook his head with a smile. "I wouldn't mind that."

"So," Crow asked, Aki already off in her own conversation with the twins, Dragan talking something over with Jack, and with that last thing, Yuusei had branched off into discussing something with Harald.  "What happens now?"

"Now?  I go shopping.  And if Dragan makes any more 'turn into a girl and the first thing is clothes' comments again, I'm gonna hit him in the face!"  She laughed, though, so he had to assume it wasn't all that bad between them.

"Life as normal, eh?"

"Mn, apart from the obvious?  Weird, but yeah.  Looks like."

"Whatever 'normal' is, right?"

He hazarded a glance off to Yuusei, who'd been seeming to deal well enough with the loss of Bruno - Antinomy, though, but they  _knew_ him as Bruno - but then again, he'd 'dealt with' feeling like everyone hated him for something neither he or his old man had even done for most of his life until Crow had overheard his true feelings during that fight with Rudger.

Still.  He could at least hope that Yuusei would trust them more this time.  And if he didn't, they'd just have to beat some sense into him.

"I'm gonna go visit the kids tomorrow," he said, not even having needed to think it over before saying it.

"Ah?  You mean those kids who tried doing dangerous things just to cheer you on?"

There was a teasing yet fond look in Brave's eyes as she reminded him of what they'd done during their duel which made him laugh - that's right, Brave had kids too, didn't h- she?

"Yeah, that'd be them!  Hey, if you're gonna be stuck here, you can come with if you like."

"O-oi!  They already know what I look like, I can't just-"

"Yeah, sure you can!  After some of the shit we've seen and gone through?  They'll probably just think it's real cool..."  He trailed off, realising something with the way her expression changed.  "Ah, wait, you don't mean... your kids back home don't..."

"What?  No _way_.  Found 'em as a guy, never got around to it, it'd be kind of awkward _now_."

Crow sighed.  _Aw, crap._

"You should tell 'em.  They know you, they trust you... they'd probably think you're some sorta superhero.  You'd still be their niichan, right?"

Or whatever it was when you were like that.

"Hn... I'll think about it.  Good enough?"

"As long as you're not just saying that," he said with a smile and a wide shrug.

"Now, would I _really_ do a thing like that?"

"Yeah.  Yeah, you would."

"Kidding, just kidding! Yeesh, you're no fun any more~!"

"Why you- I can be plenty fun!"

The grin on her face told him he'd been played yet again, making his face go a hot red.

...

The two groups eventually split up to go their own ways, Crow looking back just in time to see Brave say something that he couldn't hear which made not just one, but _both_ of his teammates go red-faced, leaving him wondering what it'd been.

Well, at least Yuusei was smiling, for some reason.  Even if Jack had this unreadable expression, like he wasn't quite sure what to say.

"I'm going to call Kiryu, after we get back," Yuusei said eventually as they wound their way through the streets and past people who, more and more, seemed to be stopping and staring at them, recognising them and waving, sometimes calling out.

"Ah, those things we sent last month are working, right?  I'd almost forgotten..."

"Mm."  Jack nodded.  "Now, we won't have to rely on slow, unreliable letters any more!"

"Ah... Kiryu?" Aki asked, turning to them.  "That's the one you went out to meet that time, isn't it?"

Crow sighed, putting his hands behind his head.  "Yup, that'd be the one.  Went and got himself a couple of kids to look after, otherwise we'd have dragged him back here, too."

"Aa.  Crow, you should probably call Martha, too - tell her to expect a visitor, hm?"

"Wha-?"  Crow blinked.  Yuusei had that odd smile on his face again.  "Er... eheheheh... yeah, guess I should!"

He almost didn't notice Jack turn to him slowly with that weird look again, his eyes narrowed as though looking for something.

"You're red again."

"What?"

"Ah... Jack's right, Crow.  Your face is all red... it's been like a lot today since, ah."  Yuusei cut himself off with a smile, eyes laughing, and Aki hid hers with a hand.

"O-oi, what's _that_ supposed to mean?!"

Aki's giggles grew, becoming more noticeable.

"Nothing, nothing..."

"Hmph."

His face wasn't red, damn it.

....

AN: Yes Crow, it _is_.

A lot of this was hard to write - the first bit was easy, but the rest?  Not so.  Because of _so many characters._   And yet if I hadn't had them all there, then it wouldn't have made sense... and some things were just too cool to cut out by taking one or two out of the scenes.

The thing that made Dragan _and_ Harald blush?  And also the reason why Dragan and Brave were snarking off at each other?

Well.  Brave's a girl (for) now, right?  Well, what happens when she forgets, and they're all sharing a common room in the hotel they're staying at...  A lot of embarrassment, that's what.

And for the first part?  MYTHOLOGY REFERENCES FOR THE WIN.  In the myths, Loki's father (not mother, that's Marvel Comics) Farbauti is also known as _Cruel Striker._   Loki's mother, Laufey, was also called 'Nal', or 'Pine'.  As in, 'When the Lightning (Farbauti) hits the Pine (Laufey), Fire (Loki, originally a god of the  _hearth_ ) is born.  And there were other reasons, as well... for instance, I needed a reason why Brave would have been on her own from what headcanon at the time stated was a young age.  And a family life like that would be sure to do it - especially since there are other things I've not mentioned.


	3. Chapter 3

After getting back to the hotel and putting down the bags - she hadn't bought much, just enough to get her through - she opened up her laptop and sent off an email to the kids back home.  Nothing too big, just explaining that they were held up, and she'd be back later than planned, reminding them to behave while she was away, and that there was that 'secret' stache of money in the left foot of the knight's armour if they needed it.

She pressed 'send' and leaned back, not expecting a reply for another several hours, her mind going back to the conversation just a few hours earlier.

 _Tell them_ , he'd said.  As if it was that easy.

Hn... a whole week, huh?   Well, that was what _Dragan_ said - and who knew how he'd got that estimate from.  Probably messing around with lightning or electricity too much before they met up, that's what.  It sounded like the sort of thing he'd do.

Maybe one day when she was really bored and had too much time on her hands, she'd look up the weather patterns around where he lived.

But... maybe not now.  Especially not when he was just in the other room, on the phone to his dad, trying to explain why he'd be late back and trying to _not_ say how it was, technically _her fault_ \- and still use 'he' for her, which admittedly often had her in fits of muffled laughter as Dragan fluffed up yet again.

"You're going, aren't you."

"Mn?  Well, I never said I _wouldn't_ , did I?"

"You implied as such," he murmured back at her, tone almost curious.

"I needed time to think!  Yeesh, someone asks you out, do _you_ say yes straight away?"  She paused, reviewing what she'd just said, as Harald stared at her, blinking occasionally in bemusement.  "That's not what I meant," she said flatly.  Trying to work out why her brain had worded it like that, and why she'd _thought_ of it like that.  "I meant - you know what I meant.  A friends thing."

Harald sighed.  "I suppose you'll be heading out early tomorrow, then?"

"Mn," she said, shaking herself off and forgetting about the moment of confusion for the time being in favour of more important things.  "Well, I don't know where the place is, so I figure I'll just turn up at the garage before he goes."

"That makes sense," Harald nodded.

Dragan, meanwhile, finally put the phone down, and looked as though he'd been running up and down the hotel staircases instead of attempting to hold one simple conversation.

Brave smiled sweetly over at him, and, for some reason, this only made his condition worse, and he disappeared into his room.  She tried, and failed, to hold back snickers.

...

Crow woke up the next morning wishing he wasn't awake yet, and the feeling persisted until he was almost out of the door, when the fresh air hit his face, and as he went out further, so did the sight of a familiar redhead leaning against the wall, texting or doing something else that required what seemed to be a lot of concentration directed towards their phone.

The other duelist's presence was enough to make him stare for a bit longer than was necessary, although he could easily put that down to still being somewhat asleep, and the fact that he hadn't been sure up until just then whether she was going to actually take him up on his offer.

"I, uh."  She turned to face him, putting her phone into her pocket as he cleared his throat.  "Hope you don't mind going by bus - the bikes are all in for repairs still..."

Brave shrugged, smiling.

"Hey, not like we're any better, you know.  Though that said, it shouldn't take much to get them fixed," she said as they started walking.  "Just replace a few parts, good as new."

Crow nodded, vaguely relieved.

There was a shuttle service running, as usual, to and from the city and Satellite, which... he supposed wasn't really 'Satellite' much any more, but that was how he'd always think of it.  Even now, he found it strange looking around and seeing the vast differences, and he pointed out, as they went over the bridge, 'that's where we duelled Godwin', and 'that's where me and the kids used to live'.

Some of the others riding with them were irked somewhat by such casual references to how things were, but it wasn't any of his business if they tried to ignore the past.

Brave, though - 'she' listened with interest, reminding him every so often of the fact that they weren't the only ones who'd dealt with Yliaster's machinations, because those kids she looked after - they were there and needed her... him, rather... because of those guys as well.

The door - once they got to it - was opened by one of the kids, who stared up at them, looked from one to the other, and then ran back inside shouting _"Martha, Martha, Crow-niichan's here and he brought a friend!"_

He caught the look Brave sent him in just a glance, and sighed, a hand reaching up to rub at the back of his neck.

"I'm starting to get an idea that they're always like this."

"O-oiii, not always-!  They're excited, who c'n blame 'em?  First there was the Grand Prix, and then people trying to either destroy the whole world or recreate it, or..."

"Yeah... I guess mine wouldn't be any different, huh..."

Crow snorted.

"If you mean they'd be super excited to see you back after helping save the world and nearly winning this world-wide tournament?  _Damn right_.  I'd be surprised if they _didn't_ act up, heheh!"

She blinked, and then grinned, something so honest and bright that he ended up coughing and looking away, right at the door when it opened - this time to Martha, who ushered them both inside with a wide smile.

"Ahhh, Crow!  You didn't say you'd made friends with that pretty duelist you faced!"  She put her hands on his shoulders, still able to look down at him like he'd never grown out of being one of her kids, and in some ways he hadn't.  "You're all right, yes?  All that out there, and I almost didn't think you you'd be coming back!"

She had him in a hug before he could protest, and he knew that he'd have to deal with Brave's snickering for a while yet.

"M-Martha... of _course_ I was gonna come back!"

Although... he'd be lying if he said that it hadn't been _close_ sometimes.  What with almost not having the Bifrost up long enough - not that he was going to be blaming anyone for _that_ , especially when confronted with the, uh, _consequences_ of it taking so much out of Brave's team at all - and then Sherry and that field spell that had him and Aki facing off against each other... not to mention Z-One.

But they'd come back.  They all had.  And he didn't need to bring all that up yet.  It could wait.

"Of course you were.  But you boys _worried_ me!  Always doing such dangerous things..."

She squeezed him again, and finally let him go, only to go up to Brave and start thanking her for everything she and her team had done for them as well - and saying in passing that it was funny, wasn't it, that when they saw her on TV, they'd thought she was a guy at first?

Brave started coughing and going a bit red in the face, and Crow smirked, hoping that he wasn't going red himself when he accidentally started remembering the first time he'd _seen_ her as a girl.

"The kids are in through there," she explained.  "I'll go make snacks, hm?"

She could've warned him he was going to get piled on, but there was no harm done except to his pride, and when Brave started properly laughing at him, he smirked, and pointed at her for the kids - _"Dog pile on Brave-neechan!"_ \- her startled look at being called that was enough to have her off guard, still staring at him when the first kid hit, and not long after that she was toppled on the floor floor along with him, laughing like he hadn't heard before.

Was this... how she was with the kids back home, wherever that was?

She started to tickle one of the girls, and Crow only realised that he'd been staring when she turned to him with a smirk on her face, right before Taka made a new jump for him.

Martha found them still in a state, but although she made an attempt at getting order back, she was smiling as she found somewhere to put the tray of biscuits and cakes brought through from the kitchen.

Things calmed down after that though, thankfully, with the kids begging for stories of the WRGP and everything that happened on the 'big scary floating thing in the sky'.  He and Brave shared a look - both understood that there were some things the kids didn't need to know yet - but they told at least _one_ version of the story.

Brave helped with the first bit, with how her team had helped Crow's realise that they could still use their D-Wheels.  She described what it was like to keep the Bifrost up, but not - yet - what that had done to her.  Crow took over then, telling of a dizzying ride up to the Arc Cradle, about how they'd fought bad people who weren't _really_ bad people, and lost friends, as well.

He didn't notice how she watched him as well, focused as he was on telling the story, on one small face after another.

Martha, too, was listening, although she, like Brave, knew that there were things he wasn't saying, things he was either missing out or glossing over for their benefit.

The biscuits were all gone by the time they were finished, and he didn't need to be summoned into the kitchen when he knew that he'd be called there to help prepare for lunch, since Martha knew that he and Brave would be staying a while longer.

It was a simple affair, and for the most part he knew what to do, able to just get on and do it, unlike - as he'd later been told - _some_ people, who'd been apparently roped in while they'd been fighting off evil gods back then.

He still laughed sometimes at the thought of that Ushio in a frilly apron.

Martha seemed to vanish Brave off for a few minutes at one point, but since they reappeared and neither of them seemed bothered or were smiling dangerously or anything, he figured that nothing was wrong, and just went back to work, cooking and instructing his little helpers how not to be under his feet and how to actually be useful in the kitchen.

It was when everyone was gathered around the table with food in front of them that the matter first came up.

"Brave-neechan?"

"Ah- mn?"

The girl who'd asked for her had done so while still looking at her plate, and so hadn't noticed that Brave had her mouth full still.

"When we saw you out there yesterday, we thought you were a boy but now you're a girl!"  Brave spluttered, and the kids around table started to laugh.

"Oiii... c'mon, guys..."

He expected her to just brush it off, but after a few long minutes of looking like she wasn't sure what was going on, he instead saw her leaning everyone in, as though it was some big secret she was sharing.  Which, he supposed, it was.

"Would you believe me if I said it was a kind of _magic_ _?_ _"_

The kids stared, some going _'oooh'_.  Martha, likely not realising that she was being oddly _honest_ , shook her head with a smile, thinking that the nice girl was playing a game or something.

"Are you usually a niichan then, Brave-neechan?"

"Eheheh, you could say that!  I haven't been a girl in, ohhhh, _ages_."

"Is it weird?"

"Uh- I guess it takes some getting used to, yeah..."

"N-ne, Crow?"

Aside from everything else that happened, Crow was startled when one of the boys nudged him to get his attention.

"Crow-niichan?  Did'ya wish _really hard,_ then?"

Both Crow and Brave - who'd been listening in - went wide-eyed and fought to swallow instead of spit.

" _W-what the hell's that supposed to mean?!"_ The kids started to giggle when he went red in the face, and Brave... Brave started _looking_ at him.  With this odd expression on her face.  "It's got nothin' to do with wishing you cheeky little-"

"Crow!  Everyone!"  Martha spoke up, and he froze in place.  "Sit back down and finish eating!  The food's going to go cold."

They did so, and he really, really wished that his face would stop heating up, and that he could stop finding that he was glancing at her every so often whenever he just let his eyes be lazy, and more than anything, he wished the little group of devils he'd helped bring up would stop giggling every time they looked, and would stop saying silly things like _"You like her, don't you?"_ to him, and overhearing one little girl solemnly tell an awkward Brave _"He likes snuggles and udon and playing aeroplane and telling stories and birdies"_.

If it wasn't so embarrassing, he'd find it cute.

...

AN: There are quite a few other things that'll happen in this bit, but they'll happen _next_ chapter, since this seemed to tell me it was the ending point, of sorts.  Now let us sit back and enjoy the kids.


End file.
